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Battle of Yah-Ta-Hey
Background After Caesar of the Legion Aurelius of Phoenix ordered over 3000 Legion troops occupying Eastern Arizona and western New Mexico back to Nova Roma in an attempt to stave off the NCR Arizona Offensive, the occupying force holding the former Union of the Ute and Navajo Nations was severely weakened. Former UNU President Charles Asaayi took advantage of this weakening of Legion power and led holdouts from the UNU hiding to Chuska Mountains, located along what was formerly the Arizona-New Mexico border to retake their old capital of Window Rock in former Arizona. In response, Tiberius Malpaisianus, the Legion governor of the province of Malpais, centered around Gallup, New Mexico, ordered 300 Legionaries and two M51 Infantry Fighting Vehicles to retake the Window Rock. The Legion attack force, however, was discovered by UNU scouts as they marched down the old US Highway 666, known prior the war as the "Devil's Highway". Charles Asaayi, the leader of the UNU holdouts decided that rather than risk attacking with a larger force, Asaayi would first send a smaller attacking force mounted on pre-war pick-up trucks to hit them in a hit-and-run raid with the goal of destroying the two IFVs that formed the centerpiece of the force. Ambush Using the mobility of five pre-war trucks, each carrying ten men, the UNU forces reached the town of Yah-Ta-Hey, located north of Gallup, while the Legion were slowed, as, while they had to the two IFVs, which they essentially intended to use as siege artillery, most of the force was marching on foot. The UNU forces set up positions near in the abandoned pre-war houses and a few low hill near near the town, which was located at the intersection of U.S. 666 and Highway 264, armed with missile launchers and Gauss rifles. After the Legion armor was neutralized, snipers and machine gunners located in hidden positions would open fire, while the technicals- armed pickup trucks, would move at high speeds, firing into the Legion troops. At 1147 hours on April 4th, the ambush forces sighted the Legion column, and remained in cover until the column reached about 100 meters distant. The first IFV was hit by a shot from an FGM-219 "Quadbarrel" missile launcher while the second was disabled by a Gauss rifle slug, before being hit by rockets from several NCR-made copies of the pre-war RPG-7. After the two IFVs were destroyed, the UNU forces focused their fire on the infantry. While the Legion troops lacked advanced weapons in many cases, the UNU were able to take many of their weapons, including pre-war munitions that previously belonged to National Guard stocks with them as they retreated from the Legion years earlier. Because of this, along with their superior position, the UNU were able cause severe casualties among the Legion. After the IFVs were destroyed, the five technical attacked the Legion forces, maneuvering along the highway and the relatively flat desert floor while sweeping the Legion forces with minigun and .50 caliber machine gun fire. The withering hail of fire quickly forced the Legion forces to flee, with only a few even attempting to return fire. As such, the ambush was an outstanding success, with the Legion losing 214 men, while the rest fled back to Gallup, while the UNU lost only nine men KIA and 11 wounded. Aftermath The Battle of Yah-Ta-Hey was another example of the masterful use of guerilla warfare by the UNU holdouts, like the Battle of Narbona Pass and Liberation of Window Rock previously. After the loss of his forces at Yah-Ta-Hey, as well as the Battle of Little Water, Tiberius Malpaisianus ordered his men to stay behind the fortifications defending Gallup, rather than risk further ambushes. Category:Battles Category:Events